


thoughts of wildflowers

by SkyeBean



Series: galaxies growing inside of me [2]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Childhood Friends, Fluff, Gen, Gwen is Bi, Leon is Aroace, they're adorable friends, this is them as young teenagers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-03
Updated: 2021-02-03
Packaged: 2021-03-15 06:08:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,372
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29184528
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SkyeBean/pseuds/SkyeBean
Summary: Leon hadn't expected this when he arrived at their normal meeting spot, but then--he really should have expectedsomething; he'd known Gwen and Elyan for long enough.Just fluff, with Gwen and Leon and Elyan being adorable.
Relationships: Gwen & Elyan & Leon (Merlin), Gwen & Leon (Merlin)
Series: galaxies growing inside of me [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2142621
Comments: 5
Kudos: 36





	thoughts of wildflowers

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this is in about an hour, and decided that the best thing to do was post it immediately.  
> 
> 
> So this is technically fits in with my wip, [galaxies growing inside of me](https://archiveofourown.org/works/28597161), but it stands alone too. This all happens pre that story, and is canon compliant.  
> 
> 
> I hope you enjoy!

“Leon!” Gwen’s familiar voice called out, and Leon turned to see her hurrying towards him, her pale skirts bunched up in her hands.

The sun hadn’t set yet, though it was close enough to the horizon that the sky was turning a beautiful red, so Leon could still see her. By the time Elyan arrived, busy as he was with his chores, the forest would be well and truly dark; they’d need to start a fire going.

“Where’ve you been?” he asked.

Before Gwen could answer, she tripped over the hem of her dress, and went tumbling; Leon tried to catch her, grabbing for her shoulders as she flew into him.

“Oof!” The breath rushed out of Leon’s lungs as Gwen crashed into his chest, and it was only years of training that had him balancing his weight so they didn’t both go crashing to the ground.

“ _Damn_ ,” Gwen muttered, taking a step back to brush down her skirt. “I _knew_ wearing a dress like this was going to end badly.”

“So you’ve said,” Leon dryly. It wasn’t the first time Gwen had expressed her annoyance with the requirements for her new role as the Lady Morgana’s maid; the dress was one of them.

“I’m fine with dresses,” Gwen continued. “I’ve _worn_ dresses. I just don’t understand why I have to wear such a long one. And it’s cream, too! That’s, like, the least practical colour.”

Leon made an agreeing noise and moved to sit down on the fallen tree, in the divot he’d claimed as his own when he and Gwen and Elyan first started to visit this clearing in the forest. Gwen remained standing.

“Every time I trip up, I get dirt and dust all over my clothes. I can just _feel_ the other servants judging me. And the King! I’m supposed to serve my lady at her dinner with him tomorrow – which only happens once a month, might I add – and I’m going to be covered in filth!”

“You’re not covered in filth,” Leon said, frowning. “You’ve got a few stains on your knees, but nothing bad. The squires are much worse, half of them are covered head-to-toe.”

Gwen let out a deep sigh, moving to join Leon on the fallen tree, in her own spot. “Yes, but squires are allowed to be dirty. That’s most of your job, isn’t it?”

“It is not!” Leon exclaimed.

He pulled a face at Gwen when she laughed.

“Have you talked to Lady Morgana about it?” Leon asked. “She might let you wear a more manageable skirt, if you explained the problems you’re having. I've heard she's very kind.”

Gwen immediately shook her head, eyes widening. “I couldn’t! She’d blame herself, and then I’d feel _terrible_ because it’s not her fault at all.”

“Well,” Leon said, “it looks like you’ve only got one solution here: spend hours practicing in that skirt tonight, until you don’t make a single mistake.”

That was the approach Leon had to every problem he’d encountered in his quest to be the perfect knight, and it had meant many a day and – now he’d become a squire and was busy in the day – night spent practicing over and over again until he could do everything exactly right.

“I know,” Gwen sighed. “Sorry we can’t practice sword-fighting.”

Leon shook his head, letting her know it was fine. “Training was especially tiring today, one of the knights asked me to lead a session. Prince Arthur was there, even.”

Gwen’s brow furrowed. “He’s only ten years old.”

“He’s already been training for a few years,” Leon said. “He's going to be king one day,” he added when Gwen pursed her lips disapprovingly.

“I know,” she murmured. “He’s just so young to be entering official squire training.”

“He is young,” Leon had to concede. “We were using full-sized swords, he struggled to lift his because he’s only used staffs before.” He paused, considered his words, then said, “Elyan’s been fighting with us for years, and he’s eleven. _You’re_ only fourteen.”

“I have a job,” Gwen pointed out. “I’m fully grown. There’s a big difference between ten and fourteen.”

“I don’t know,” Leon said, then grinned when he added, “When I was your age…”

Gwen whacked his arm. “You’re only a year older than me!”

“I don’t know,” Leon laughed. “I’d say it’s more like a year and a half…”

Gwen whacked him again, harder this time. “You,” she said, “are a _child_.”

“And so are you.”

“I’m more mature,” Gwen said, straightening.

“Says the girl hitting me,” Leon said evenly. “You know, behaviour like that isn’t very ladylike for the maidservant of Lady Morgana.”

Gwen shook her head, but bit her lip. “I know,” she said, subdued, and Leon immediately regretted going too far with his teasing.

“I didn’t mean it!” he said quickly. “You are very mature, Gwen.”

“Really?” Gwen said. “It’s just…there are other servants in the castle, people who could do so much better. Women who _don’t_ trip over their own skirts.”

“But they aren’t the ones who were offered the job,” Leon said, doing his best to sound gentle. “ _You_ were.”

“I don’t know why, though,” Gwen said, continuing to chew on her lip.

Leon thought that if she kept on at it, her lip was going to be a bloody mess by Morgana’s meal with the King tomorrow; he realised that wouldn’t be a helpful comment, so shelved it in the back of his mind.

“All they said was that I seemed like a good fit.”

“Then someone saw your talents,” Leon said. “If not, you wouldn’t have been chosen.”

“Maybe…” Gwen didn’t sound sure, but this wasn’t the first time they’d had this conversation and Leon doubted it would be the last; he wasn’t sure how to convince her to believe him

“Lady Morgana seems to like you, right? That’s what you said yesterday. Maybe she asked for someone kind.”

Gwen’s flush was visible even in the dusk, and she shook her head. “That’s not…”

“Don’t be silly,” Leon told her. “You’re very kind.”

Gwen glanced away for a moment, visibly swallowing, before turning back with a small smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. “Let’s see if you’re saying that when you find out what I have in store for you tonight.”

“…What do you have in store?” Leon asked warily.

Gwen just gave him a bright smile that set his nerves on edge.

“Gwen?” he asked again, his voice rising in pitch against his will.

“You’ll just have to find out when Elyan arrives,” Gwen said, and there was just a hint of laughter to her voice that made Leon want to run away.

He wouldn’t, though, because he was a brave squire training to be a brave knight and he would not run from one of his two best friends. Even if she terrified him sometimes.

“I thought you weren’t going to be here until later,” Gwen said after a pause.

Leon shrugged, but the motion was stiffer than normal, and he resisted the urge to wince even as he knew Gwen would have picked up on it. She knew him too well.

Sure enough, Gwen’s brow furrowed and she straightened, face full of concern. “Leon? Don’t the squires have a group bonding activity this evening?”

Sighing, Leon said, “I decided not to go.”

“You _decided not to go_ ,” Gwen echoed. “…Why?”

Leon took a moment to consider his words carefully. “The group bonding,” he said at last, “turns out to not be so much a group bonding activity as it is an exercise in trying to—to—to”—he stumbled over the word— “ _seduce_ men and women at the inn.”

“Ah,” Gwen said. “I see.”

“I couldn’t stand it. It was so embarrassing.”

Gwen reached out to gently take his hand. “Do they know you’re not interested in that kind of thing?”

Leon shook his head. “I…wasn’t sure how to say it. None of them seemed to feel the same way, but I managed to get out of the teasing by virtue of my youth, but…”

“If you don’t want to say anything, then don’t. But I think they’d listen, if you did. They’ve been very nice to you so far, even though you’re the youngest there,” Gwen advised.

Leon considered her words. “I suppose,” he said slowly.

“Like I said, you don’t have to if you don’t want to,” Gwen said. “It’s up to you. But the knights have already proven themselves welcoming – they accepted Lord Renault’s son, even though everyone thought he was a girl until a few months ago. And, and, those two knights married, remember?”

“I suppose,” Leon said again, more confident this time. “I could just tell Pellinor, and he’s enough of a gossip to spread it around. Then everyone would just…find out.”

Shrugging, Gwen said, “If that’s how you want to let people know, I could start the story in the servants too.”

“It would be nice if more people knew,” Leon mused. “Then we wouldn’t have another _incident_.”

Gwen huffed a laugh. “Poor Saf. She had no idea what to do.”

“I had no idea,” Leon said. “She was the one brave enough to approach me.”

Two weeks before, one of the noble’s daughters – Saffron, whom Leon knew only in passing – had approached Leon and asked him to escort her to the feast that night. Leon, fifteen and unused to talking to girls other than Gwen and uninterested in any romance or intimacy of any kind, had gone completely blank and just stared at her until she had hurried away with wet eyes.

“It wasn’t your fault either,” Gwen said.

“But it would be nice if it didn’t happen again.”

Gwen nodded emphatically. “It was three hours until she felt vaguely okay again.”

Leon had only heard the full story once, because Gwen had been so incredibly embarrassed telling it: Saffron had been comforted by Gwen for those three hours, and then, when she stopped crying, she had tried to kiss her.

“I think we’d all like to avoid a repeat,” Leon murmured, then paused as a thought occurred to him. “Unless…”

Gwen’s eyes narrowed. “Unless what?”

“Unless you enjoyed that…thing, with Saffron?”

“No!” Gwen squeaked. “That’s not—I—no! She's a noble! That would be _entirely_ improper of me.”

“She says,” Leon narrated in a deeper voice, like the one his father used to use when telling stories, “only moments after whacking a noble’s son.”

“You don’t count,” Gwen told him. “You’re my friend.”

“Your friend,” Leon agreed. “I owe you a debt for comforting Saffron, actually. I don’t want to think I upset her, even unintentionally.”

“Don’t be silly,” Gwen said, waving a hand dismissively. “You don’t owe me anything. Just because you’re a proper squire now…”

“Of course I owe you,” Leon said. “I’ve added it to the tally.”

Gwen let out a deep sigh. “Not the _tally_. You haven’t brought it up in _months_.”

Ignoring the heat in his cheeks, Leon said, “It’s only proper for the son of a noble to keep a record of all he owes, even to his closest friends.”

Something softened in Gwen’s face, around her eyes, and her voice was far gentler when she said, “Your father?”

Leon sighed, then nodded. “He’s…yeah.”

“You can stay with us, if they get too much,” Gwen said. “That offer’s always open.”

“I know,” Leon said, quiet. “But a knight does not run from trouble, even if that trouble is just his parents fighting.”

Gwen just nodded and didn’t say anything more; they both knew that the offer was open, and that Leon would never take it.

But then Gwen’s face lit up, confusing Leon with the sudden change of mood.

“So, that favour you owe me?”

Suddenly very, very wary, Leon said, “…Yes?”

“Elyan!” Gwen cried out instead of giving a reply, jumping up to wave at her brother, who Leon saw approaching when he turned around.

Elyan, who hadn’t yet hit his growth spurt and was currently tiny next to both Leon and even Gwen, was dragging a large sack on the ground behind him. It was huge in comparison.

“Thank you,” Gwen said, hitching her skirt to hurry over to Elyan and grabbed the sack from him. “Did you finish your chores?”

“Yes, Gwen,” Elyan said, rolling his eyes, exasperated. “I also did you your favour.”

“I know,” Gwen said. “And thank you. Did you choose my best two?”

Something very concerning on Elyan’s face brightened, and he nodded. “I did!”

“…What are we doing?” Leon asked, a little cautiously for a squire, but…whoever had said that knights had to always be brave clearly hadn’t met Gwen and Elyan before; hadn't gotten caught up in one of their schemes that Leon _absolutely_ did _not_ partake in. Ever. No matter what anyone else claimed.

“Practicing moving in dresses,” Elyan said excitedly. “Gwen can’t do it all by herself, we need to do it with her.”

Leon blinked once, twice, then groaned. “I swore I’d never do this again.”

“Aren’t knights supposed to face the unknown without question?” Gwen teased.

Elyan said, “Leon’s just scared he’s going to fall on his face again.”

Leon choked. “I am _not_.”

“Are too,” Elyan said, a toothy grin stretching across his face. “That’s what you did last time! And the time before that! And—”

“Okay, it’s only happened twice,” Leon quickly said.

“Leon’s right,” Gwen said, “it _has_ only happened twice.”

“I bet I’ll look better than you in the dress,” Elyan said to Leon, who gasped.

“You will _not_.”

Elyan’s grin widened. “I will. I brought the bag here, so I get bagsies. So I choose the one with the purple flowers on it.”

“Aww,” Gwen said. “That _is_ my best dress.”

Grimacing, Leon braced himself before asking, “Which is the other dress Elyan brought?”

Gwen reached into the sack, and had to peer at the pattern for a moment, the dark of the night making it hard to see. “It’s my orange one.”

“Oh, the one with the white flowers your mother stitched at the cuffs?”

Gwen nodded, and Leon turned to Elyan.

“I’m going to look _so_ much better than you.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! If you liked this, please comment/give kudos!


End file.
